City of Heroes Wiki:Editors' manual
Ignore all rules Edit boldly. Nobody's the boss of you. Your edits don't have to be approved by any committee. They certainly don't have to be perfect. That's how wikis work: you don't need permission to improve someone else's work, and likewise, someone else may come along to improve yours. This page, like any wiki page, is not set in stone. It exists only to give you an outline of what other users of the wiki currently expect. If you have a different idea, you can edit this page boldly, too. Namespace subject matter Restricting the subject matter of the various namespaces helps ensure that visitors reach the information they are looking for quickly and easily. For that reason, the subject matter of this wiki's main namespace is limited to the game City of Heroes. Articles in the main namespace should be about specific City of Heroes game mechanics, items, content, development, etc. * Game mechanics (such as archetypes, powersets, enhancements, exemplaring) * Game content (such as mission text, NPC descriptions) * NCsoft staff information (such as information on developers, community representatives) * Developer and publisher run events (those sponsored by NCsoft) * The actual game as sold (such as the Good Versus Evil Edition) * Published material relating to City of Heroes/Villains (such as the comic book) Subarticles in the main namespace are encouraged to include: * Player-created guides for a specific topic in main namespace (such as a guide about slash commands) The project namespace may contain anything of interest to any segment of the player community, especially the community of editors of this wiki. The project namespace is encouraged to include: * Navigational features * Lists of characters, supergroups, coalitions, player events, fan fiction, fansites, guides * Information about this wiki itself There are no subject matter limitations on content in the User namespace. Pages must abide by Wikia's terms of service guidelines only. The User namespace is encouraged to include: * Information about an editor * An editor's own characters, supergroups, coalitions, events, fan fiction, fansites, guides * Any personal, non-commercial links the editor would like to share Due to the prevalence of spam on any open wiki such as this one, links to commercial sites may not be acceptable. Discuss such links with the community first. Links to commercial sites that have not been discussed with and approved by the community are subject to administrative deletion. Article titles * The wiki automatically capitalizes the first letters of all articles. * Other than the first word, capitalize only proper nouns in article titles. (Wikipedia style) * Articles for slash commands should not include the leading slash and should be followed by "(slash command)". Example: The article name for the slash command is Team (slash command). * Use the most functional or common name of a subject for the article title. * If more than one subject has the same functional name, use your discretion as to which subject is more popular. Less important pages can be renamed "Name (identifier)". For example, Arbiter is the page on Rogue Isle trainers, while Arbiter (badge) is the page on the Arbiter badge. Link from the more important page to the less important ones. Headings * Capitalize the first letter in a heading. * Other than the first word, capitalize only proper nouns in headings. (Wikipedia style) * Links should not be used in headings. In-game text Many articles copy text as it appears in game. This section applies to such text. * Replace dynamically generated words, such as your character name, with the appropriate placeholder. Discussion about hero names in mission entries on Main Discussion talk page. * Encapsulate misspellings and grammatical errors within the template. You may provide replacement text within the template at your discretion. Functional text should not be replaced; for instance, correcting "Psionicly" to "Psionically" will cause users to be unable to find Psionicly Charged Brass in a trading house search. * You may note factual errors, but do not modify the text. * Do not list mission clues that simply duplicate text from the souvenir. Style * Expand abbreviations the first time they appear on a page. New players may not understand AoE, DoT, etc. * Capitalize effects as common nouns. ::Poor style: "Disorientation, Hold, and Sleep effects turn off some toggles." ::Better: "Disorientation, hold, and sleep effects turn off some toggles." * Avoid first and second person pronouns outside direct quotes. ::Poor style: "I think you get ambushed upon leaving this mission." ::Better: "An ambush may occur upon leaving this mission." Verification Requiring verifiability of information puts all editors on equal footing, regardless of anonymity or reputation. It also helps assure viewers that all information on this wiki is subject to verification by all editors, including the viewers themselves. For these reasons, claims about game content must be verifiable through at least one of the following methods. * 1. They are immediately accessible by any game player who purchases access to the relevant game content. Access not offered for immediate sale to the public, closed beta, loyalty content, and veteran content, for example, is insufficient for verification; such content must be verifiable through other means. * 2. Or, they are viewable within publicly downloadable game files. Beta game downloads are sufficient for verification if they are public downloads. * 3. Or, they are announced by the game's developer or publisher. All means of communication from the developer or publisher are sufficient for verification. Unverified claims may be challenged or removed by any editor at any time. Automated edits As an anti-spam measure, edits that appear to have been made by automated means are subject to strict scrutiny. * Automated edits must be strictly within the subject matter of the wiki. Edits that appear to be both automated and off-topic, in particular spam, are subject to administrative deletion. Spam without links is still considered spam by the administrators: evading Wikia's spam filters, search engine poisoning, etc. * Automated edits are encouraged for edits that must be made across numerous articles. Maintenance edits, such as category moves, are particularly suited for automated editing. * Automated edits should be made on a dedicated non-anonymous account, separate from your normal account, and discussed with the community first. This makes that account eligible for a bot flag. A bot flag makes mass automated edits less disruptive to tools such as "recent wiki activity". * You may also request automated edits be done by an editor with an existing bot account. * Please report malfunctioning bots to their owners or to the administrators. References